Quiet, short and non-violent games for break time at school
The best games to play at school are ones you can follow with the sound off, that give you a natural stopping point every few minutes and that you can drop the moment the bell goes. Here are eleven. Two are for a pair sitting side by side; the rest are puzzle, memory and number games for one player or for a whole class on the interactive whiteboard. All of them run on a mouse click or a tap, and none has blood, weapons or jump scares.
How we picked these
Break is short, the room is busy and the school computer is often old. So we used four tests. Sound: every game here works from what you see on screen, so muting the speakers costs you nothing. Length: each one ends with a single round, a single level or a fixed timer. Content: no violence and nothing scary. Controls: one click or one tap, which also makes them sensible on a phone, a tablet or a touch whiteboard.
If the school machine struggles, our list of games for low-end PCs has lighter options. And if a site is blocked on the school network, that is the school's call: don't try to get around the filter. Ask your teacher, or play something else at break and save it for home.
For two players side by side
Tic-tac-toe for two
Noughts and crosses on a three-by-three grid: take turns placing X and O, and three in a row across, down or diagonally wins. tictactoe is quick, so several rounds fit into one break; if the grid fills up with no line, it's a draw and a new round starts. You both tap on the same screen, and it works on a phone too. One tip: grab the centre square, the only one shared by four lines.
Roshambo
Rock paper scissors for two friends at the same desk. Player one uses A, S and D, player two uses J, K and L, and both picks are revealed at the same moment. First to three points takes the match. On a phone each player taps the icons on their own side. Roshambo also lets you play against the computer, so it still works when your friend is off somewhere else.
For more ways to share one screen, see 2 player games on one phone.
Quiet memory and focus games
MemoPlay
In MemoPlay sports-themed cards stay face up for a few seconds, then flip over and you hunt for the pairs. There are three difficulty levels, so younger pupils can stay on easy while older ones try hard. Click or tap to play. If you want to clear the board in fewer moves, our memory card game tips will help.
Difference Find Master Game
Two nearly identical pictures sit side by side and you look for the small changes. Click the right spot and it gets marked; find them all and the next pair loads. It is a great fit for a whole class on the whiteboard: everyone stares at the board and whoever spots a change points to it. When you are stuck, the hint button shows one difference. You'll find similar games on our spot the difference page.
Calm puzzles for one
Sort Color Water Puzzle
Pour coloured water between tubes until each tube holds a single colour. It is a slow, quiet logic game, and because it goes level by level you can stop at the end of one when the bell rings. Click or tap, nothing else. A small tip: don't fill the empty tube early, it's your only way out when you get stuck.
Paper Fold Super Smart
Tap the paper pieces in the right order to fold them and complete the picture. There is only one kind of move, but the wrong order locks the level, so look at the whole picture before you tap. The number of pieces grows level by level, which means the first levels are the simplest. If you fold in the wrong order, undo and try again.
2048 Hexa Merge Block
The familiar 2048 puzzle on a honeycomb board. Slide the board and equal numbers merge. Unlike a square grid, you have six directions, which changes the strategy. Drag with the mouse or swipe with a finger; when the board fills up, the round ends and the restart button puts you straight into a new one.
Maritime Conflict
The Battleship game you used to draw on the back of an exercise book, now on screen. You fire at the computer's grid square by square and work out which way each ship lies from your hits. The name may sound warlike, but all you see are squares and clues; it is pure logic. Click or tap to play. Opening with a checkerboard pattern, skipping every other square, is a good start.
A five-minute number warm-up
Kids Mathematics Game
Each equation is missing its operator and you pick the right one while a timer counts down from 120 seconds. It is the perfect break-time length: play for two minutes, check your score, and let a friend try to beat it. In class the teacher can split the room into two teams on the whiteboard and take turns. A good way to speed up the four operations.
Crossmath Challenge
It looks like a crossword, but it wants numbers instead of letters. Place the numbers from the tray into the grid so that the sums work both across and down. An Undo button sends a misplaced number back to the tray, so trial and error is fine. Drag and drop works too, which is handy on a whiteboard.
Get 10 Ultimate
The grid starts full of 1s; tap neighbouring equal numbers and they merge into the next number up. The first goal is 10, after that it's about your record. Because it takes one simple tap, younger children pick it up straight away. For pupils working on multiplication, times tables games offers more focused practice.
Which one to start with
Two of you and five minutes? Tic-tac-toe or Roshambo. On your own and want to switch off? Sort Color Water Puzzle or 2048 Hexa; both reward thinking, not reflexes. Teacher putting something up for the class? Difference Find Master Game or a two-team round of Kids Mathematics Game. If you want the one game that ticks all four boxes, start with that maths race: fixed length, no sound needed, nothing but numbers. There is more in our educational games category.
FAQ
Can these games be played without sound?
Yes. Every game on this list works from what is on the screen. In class, just mute the device or the browser tab.
Which ones work best on an interactive whiteboard?
The ones played by tapping and dragging: Difference Find Master Game, Crossmath Challenge, Kids Mathematics Game and tic-tac-toe. On a big screen the whole class can follow along.
What if the site won't open at school?
School network filters are the school's decision. Rather than trying to get around them, ask your teacher; if games are not allowed outside lessons, play at home.